Loads more Progress since the last post…..
Roll Hoop
The Roll Hoop has now been offered up for final fitting and the two rear brace bars that go through the rear fire wall and into the engine bay and secure on the back of the chassis have all been trial fitted and look good. I specifically did not want the rear brace bars to cut across the rear windows as I think it spoils the look of the rear quarter window lines so the brace bars are above this and from the side of the car from outside you can’t see them. There was a fair bit of work required to the firewall to get eh brace bars in but it looks great. Before final fitting Gary is going to put the seat belt mountings into the tubes. You can also see the rear arch mounted Oil cooler in the first photo.....
Brakes
The new front hubs have now been fitted but with a bit of hassle as I original got 68 bearings and they actually need 65 bearings (My fault as it says that on their website) also the oil seal was not specified on the website so you would expect Beetle, but oh no, what you actually need is a VW Golf oil seal for the kit…..took me about 3 Google translated Emails into German for me to get through to them what I needed to know, but got there eventually. Uses the original 944 Hub oil caps to complete the set-up.
The Vacuum pump has now been mounted under the fuel tank along with the Vacuum reservoir and Vacuum pressure switch. Not easy to see in this photo, but the Reservoir and Vacuum Pump were both mounted using coil brackets.
Gary has also fitted the 2 Willwood master cylinders for the dual circuit brakes. I still have to fit a float switch to the second one to make it IVA compliant
Brake Line on Drivers side of the car
Fuel System
The two 8mm copper fuel lines have also be run front to back through the passenger compartment down the side of the transmission tunnel, and is awaiting the fitting of the flexible lines at both ends. In the engine compartment this will connect to a Sytec Fuel Filter, a Moon Fuel distribution block with a Moon Fuel pressure gauge mounted, then finally on to the fuel BEGI regulator before flowing through the return fuel line. I have not installed a swirl pot at the moment, as long term I want a much bigger fuel tank than the current Beetle tank and I’ll get baffles added to this, so for the moment will have to make sure it is well topped up with fuel. The Flexible pipe and fittings have all arrived now and it just needs plumbing in and testing. I am also making up some flexible pipes to feed the fuel rails on the Jenvey throttle bodies and blocking off the front feeds.
A few photos of the Fuel filler....
Oil Breather
The oil breather has been mounted behind the fan shroud, and I am currently waiting for some bugs to arrive to block up the two side inputs (apparently according to Gene Berg you don’t need to vent the Rocker covers on a Type 4 engine
Fire Extinguisher
The Plumbed in Fire extinguisher is now mounted under the bonnet, and will run through a 6mm pipe then runs alongside the fuel lines to the back of the car where three fire nozzles will be mounted, one above each Throttle body and one across the rest of the engine bay.
Windscreen Wipers
OK the set-up for the windscreen wipers is now sorted. It uses a classic mini windscreen wiper motor that I bought new from Car Builder Solutions. The Wiper set-up comes complete with a 95 degree wiper arc gear, bundy tube, drive cable and 2 wheel boxes. I want the clap hands windscreen wiper operation as on some of the Pre A’s so one of the wheel boxes has been mounted up-side-down (Not as in the photo as it was changed afterwards). I have ordered one left and one right park wiper arms and 10 inch wiper blades, all from Car Builder Solutions. Most of it is now installed, but the arms and wiper blades are still to be installed. Washer bottle was a nice aluminium item from Ebay and the washer pump and bits and pieces were from Car Builder Solutions. Should be fairly straight forwards to fit.
Exhaust
The Vintage Speed exhaust that I had did not fit as it was designed for a bus and was too long, so Gary shortened the manifold and all now fits.
Windscreen
The Windscreen was finally delivered last week and was installed, and is a good fit, although the rubber is a little loose.
Undertray
Because I am mounting a lot of the ancillary mechanical parts under the front of the tank which is open directly to the road dirt and spray, I am going to fit an undertray to prevent the components from the worst of the elements. I think a cardboard template followed by a switch to Aluminium and some stainless screws to fix it to the underside.
Heater
I have started to think a little more about the Heater (Eberspaecher Hydronic water based solution) the heater boiler part first needs to be fitted in the front of the car with a separate air and Exhaust systems, and has to be IVA compliant so air and Exhaust need to be segregated so there is no contamination between the two systems. The exhaust system that came with mine is rigid, so I will look to fit the system with a flexible pipe and re-use the existing silencer. I will then route the air pipe to the other side to get fresh air from a clean source.